Saturday, February 21, 2009

we did it. the discovery of the year was visited in rolled up sleeves and trousers.very nice 2 hours we spent.general मजदूरी happened. today was watering day and they let me handle the spade.there is a foot wide water trough through the center along the length of the field and around five 5x5 sq ft squares on each side of the trough.the trough is breached at each of the squares and dammed in such a way that the water flows into the square. it took me 3 attempts to crack the process. very simple and some nice innovations.was introduced to the men folk this time and the kids too. got to tell our story and why we are interested in this work.quite a joint family - around 40 strong. and most work in the filed along with doing whatever else they do - women managing the household, men doing side-business and kids in schools.we also harvested some चौली (leafy vegetable) - 15 stacks (measured by the size of the harverster's hand) to be sold just in the veggie cart outside on the street.and some really impoverished radish (मूली) (root vegetable), which would be bought for its leafy top instead at a huge discount.good connections happened and more such posts are likely. keep watching.